The PP will govern without Vox in Palma and maintains its plan to do the same in the Balearic Government

There is no pact or agreement between PP and Vox in the main town hall of the Balearic Islands. Except for an improbable last-minute twist, the 'populares' led by Jaime Martínez will govern alone one of the most strategically important institutions of the archipelago, where the formula that will guide the autonomous government is still in the air, which is still in the negotiation phase between the two right-wing political forces.

It has been the leader of Vox in Palma, Fulgencio Coll, who this Friday has announced that his party will not be part of the municipal government, where until now and since 2015 the PSOE has governed (with a two-year period in which the leadership was in the hands of its nationalist partners) and that it returns to the hands of the PP after eight years on the opposition bench.

The PP of Martínez was the list with the most votes with 11 of 29 councilors, in the absence of 4 councilors from the absolute majority. Vox obtained 6, and only the sum of both guarantees an absolute majority against the block of left-wing parties, allies for two terms.

With the non-inclusion of Vox, the PP will govern in a minority, promoting specific agreements and seeking support. A formula that, since the very election night, has been the priority for the one who will be the new mayor. Martínez has always defended his intention to govern alone, clinging to his status as the most voted candidate.

Coll, a retired general, former chief of the Army General Staff and one of the best-known figures of Santiago Abascal's party, has declared that his party will exercise “forceful opposition” against the PP. And he has attributed his exclusion from the Consistory to the “closeness” of the PP and his refusal to integrate them into a bicolor government.

The City Council must elect its mayor during a plenary session to be held tomorrow, Saturday. Although there have been attempts to find common ground, the week ends without an agreement for Coll and his councilors to vote in favor of the PP mayor.

Other municipalities

Palma has an obvious importance on the political board of the entire Balearic region and could mark the trend of government in autonomy. However, in the case of Vox, the two brands have operated practically separately due to the personal distance between their two leaders.. When negotiating, each team has gone on their own.

Unlike what has happened in the Balearic capital, PP and Vox have formed coalition governments in other relevant municipalities, such as Calviá (considered the second most important in Mallorca and a historical socialist bastion), Marratxí or Llucmajor.

With regard to the Government, the main body of political power in the Balearic Islands, the positions are currently deadlocked and the formula that will allow the candidate with the most votes, Margalida Prohens (PP), to form a government is unknown.

The PP leader maintains her determination to govern in a minority and assert her 26 deputies. One more than all the left together. With these credentials, he considers that he has the support of the polls to govern alone, without the need to integrate Vox into his Executive. Vox has 8 deputies, with an absolute majority at 29.

The president of Vox in the Islands, Jorge Campos, for his part, maintains his position: he wants to enter the government and have management responsibilities, not limit himself to abstaining so that Prohens is president in exchange for a programmatic policy agreement that he should support from the outside.

castled postures

Although it sounds like an ordeal, from Vox it even slips that a vote against his group would force a repetition of the elections, something that seems highly unlikely, especially when one of Vox's main electoral drivers has been to end the government of the socialist Francina Armengol.

Campos (whose origin is, to be precise, Valencian) looks in the mirror of Valencia, where Vox has entered the government. However, in the Valencian community the electoral result is different from that of the Balearic Islands, since there the PP does not add more support than the left, which gives its opponents a blocking capacity that the PSOE and its left allies do not have. in the Balearic Islands.

Until now, and during the last two weeks, there have been two official meetings, as well as continued informal contacts and conversations between both parties. At the moment there is no understanding and no agreement has been reached, and the two parties maintain their positions, although it is common in this kind of negotiations..

On Thursday, after meeting his board of directors, personally led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo, Prohens was sure that the agreement between the two formations “is not only necessary but possible”. However, he did not specify anything else, and his intention continues to be that of an agreement without Vox in the institutions, passing off that agreement as an abstention of the eight Vox deputies so that he can be president and form a government solely of the PP. He asked for “patience”, aware that “time is pressing”.

Next Tuesday, June 20, the first parliamentary act of the legislature will be held, the one in which the parliamentary groups that have emanated from the polls are configured and the members of the Bureau are appointed in the autonomous legislative chamber. In the event that there is no progress in the negotiation, a representative concession to Vox could then be visualized, such as one of the presidencies or vice-presidencies of the Chamber. Or, on the contrary, some way of reinforcing the PP's position of not counting on Santiago Abascal's party, similar to what has happened in Murcia.

As of that day, a period of 15 days begins to run to convene the investiture session. It is expected that by then there will be a resolution of the negotiation that currently continues without an agreement and the right will return to power in the Balearic Islands after eight years in opposition. The chips are on the board. And the days will solve the game.